11 BEST Date Appetizers You Can’t Resist!

Dates are perfect as natural sweeteners in various smoothies, baked goods, and especially in date appetizers!

Also touted as “black gold,” dates are gaining popularity on dinner tables worldwide, including appetizers.

But what makes dates such excellent choices for appetizers?

It’s a wonderfully sweet fruit with a nice, luscious, and soft texture that will surely linger in your mouth in every bite. 

It consists of one seed in the middle and is surrounded by delectable sweet meat.

It grows in clusters on date palm trees, which belong in the family of palm trees, and are primarily oval-shaped. 

The color is mostly golden yellow but turns reddish-brown when ripe. 

People love to incorporate dates in their daily meals and snacks because eating dates gives you a pleasing sensation on your palate.

Fully ripe dried dates offer a rich and intensive caramel-like flavor that has a sweetness that hits just the right sections on your palate.

You’ll also taste the notes of cinnamon, toffee, butterscotch, and even chocolate when devouring this wonderful fruit!

If you’re looking for a sweet appetizer that is easy and quick to make, dates make the great ingredients! 

For this date appetizers list, we’re mostly going to use ripe dried dates instead of fresh ones. 

Although the fresh dates contain the natural sugars that give them their sweet flavor, ripe dried dates still do a pretty bang-up job in giving your palate the same sensation. 

So without further ado, let’s hop on to 11 of my favorite date appetizers!

If you have to choose one date appetizer, I would suggest not missing out on #9 because who doesn’t love goat cheese, thyme, and bacon with dates?

1. Bacon-Wrapped Dates With Goat Cheese

If you serve these date appetizers at a party, I’m sure the plates on the grazing table will be empty in no time!

These bacon-wrapped dates with goat cheese are to die for, giving you intense flavors, with only three ingredients used. 

Goat cheese offers a tart and earth flavor, with a pungent odor that some people love!

There is also a hint of bitterness in goat cheese, which will depend on the type of goat cheese and the other ingredients combined with it. 

Imagine biting into soft, gooey goat cheese embracing a plump, chewy date wrapped in salty and flavorful bacon? 

I bet you can’t help but eat loads of these date appetizers!

2. Manchego Stuffed Dates With Prosciutto Di Parma

If you’re not too crazy about goat cheese due to its bitter and tarty flavor, try stuffing dates with manchego cheese and prosciutto di parma. 

The manchego cheese comes from central Spain and is from the Manchega sheep. 

It’s a semi-hard cheese that offers a sweet, savory taste and herringbone rind, which also sharpens as it ages. 

Meanwhile, prosciutto di parma is delicate and sweet in every bite, making it perfect for not only date appetizers but also bread and sandwiches. 

After baking the stuffed dates in the oven for about 8 to 10 minutes, you’ll see the cheesy goodness melting all over the dates. 

It’s a bit salty and sweet, a perfect way to prepare your palate for the main course!

3. Stuffed Dates With Cream Cheese & Nuts

You can stuff dates with so many different nuts to give them a bit of a nice texture when you’re biting on these delicate appetizers. 

You can choose between a variety of nuts such as walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pecans, cashews, and pistachios. 

If you can’t choose between your favorite nuts, don’t fret. 

You can grab a handful of each type of nut and crush them, mixing different types of nuts to stuff your dates.

Stuff your dates with crushed nuts with cream cheese, and this appetizer gives you a punch of flavors in your mouth. 

The cream cheese tastes slightly tangy but with a mild and sweet taste, which complements the dates well.

4. Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates With Almonds & Balsamic

This Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates With Almonds & Balsamic recipe will give you bursting flavors that are an explosion in your mouth!

You get all the different flavors in every bite, with every ingredient in this recipe. 

The tarty and earthy flavor from the goat cheese is enough to get you started.

The plain, raw, and unsalted almonds will also give the dates a delightful flavor, especially after toasting for a few minutes in the oven.

Then you have the sweet, chewy dates, topped with slightly sour balsamic vinegar on top, and you’ll be smiling from ear to ear when eating this date appetizer!

5. Truffle Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates

What I like about this recipe is how simplistically elegant that it is. You will blend together the cream cheese, goat cheese, truffle oil and other ingredients. Then after turning the dates into little boats in waiting, you will fill the dates with this delicious creamy mixture. Whatever you do, make extras because these will go quick.

6. Bacon-Wrapped Dates With Manchego & Honey

You’ll never want to try another “devils on horseback” recipe once you’ve feasted on these Bacon-Wrapped Dates With Manchego & Honey. 

Splitting the dates in half and stuffing them with slivered almonds is another way to enjoy a nice crunch in every bite.

But that’s not all. 

You wrap the dates in thinly-sliced bacon and stuff them with savory and sweet manchego cheese, and it’s an explosion of flavors in your mouth. 

Then you can drizzle spicy honey on these little badass date appetizers, and you’ll want to get more from the tray!

7. Honey Almond Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates With Whipped Cream Cheese

Doesn’t the sound of Honey Almond Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates With Whipped Cream Cheese excited your tastebuds? 

But instead of just drizzling honey on top of the stuffed dates, this recipe requires you to combine the whipped cream cheese, goat cheese, and honey.

If you ask me, that’s all I ever want in my stuffed dates.

The honey elevates the sweetness of the dates, and with a slight drizzle of honey, you’re off to a good start with appetizers!

8. Goat Cheese & Salami Stuffed Dates

This Goat Cheese & Salami Stuffed Dates recipe will never disappoint, especially when starting your main courses in a small or big get-together. 

The sweetness of the dates is a perfect combination with salty salami.

Use Calabrian or Calabrese salami for a savory, porky, sweet, and spicy flavor that will create a tasty date appetizer. 

Top with creamy goat cheese and pieces of raw pistachios, and you’ll eat more than a handful of these tasty date appetizers.

9. Bacon Wrapped Dates With Thyme & Goat Cheese

Goat cheese is a favorite for date appetizers because of its tarty, sweet, and savory flavor.

Goat cheese also offers a hint of bitterness, which goes perfectly well with anything sweet or salty, just like dates or bacon!

But instead of the usual dates and goat cheese combination, you can combine the goat cheese with thyme.

Thyme is an excellent pairing for this recipe as it’s a mix between minty and earthy, sweet and savory.

Thyme also has a slightly woodsy taste but is also a bit flowery, which is like a toned-down rosemary with traces of lavender. 

One bite of this appetizer and it will send you straight to heaven

10. Olive Tapenade Stuffed Dates With Toasted Pine Nuts

Who would’ve thought that olive tapenade and stuffed dates would go together?

The salty and briny flavors of the tapenade make this date appetizer worth showcasing at parties! 

Olive tapenade is made of capers and olives and flavored with other spices and herbs. 

It is then finished with a good helping of olive oil to get that nice consistency, which you can spread on stuffed dates and bread. 

Add some extra olives in these date appetizers, with toasted pine nuts for that extra earthy flavor and good crunch in every bite.

11. Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates With Walnuts & Mint

You can never go wrong with this Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates With Walnuts & Mint for your everyday snacking or party appetizers!

The creamy goat cheese, earth walnuts, and fresh mint leaves are all it takes to make this appetizer a favorite amongst hungry diners! 

Not only does this date appetizer look pretty with the fresh mint leaves perked up on top of the dates, but it also creates a contrasting yet wonderful flavor in your mouth.

The mint’s sweet and lingering cooling effect is the hero in this date appetizer, so make sure to grab fresh mint!

The bottom line

These date appetizers are irresistible and easy to make. 

Most of these only require a handle of ingredients, with no baking needed!

So what are you waiting for? 

Enjoy these as perfect bite-sized appetizers at your next weeknight dinners!